River Dwellers

Stefan Mee

11 Jul 2025 — 1 min read

Skipping stones near the mouth of the Yarra River, Melbourne.

I acknowledge the Boon wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of the unceded lands upon which I live and, mostly, write. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Yalukit-willam is a name that means 'river camp' or 'river dwellers'. The Yalukit-willam people of the Boon wurrung are connected to the waterways and land at the head of Port Phillip Bay along its coastal edge.

Where I walk alongside the Yarra River as it meets the bay, its banks have long since been realigned and its bottom dredged to suit the large container ships that use it as passage to the city's docks. Industrial uses dominate its edges, as you get closer to the city. Some appear like strange and dramatic land art installations with tank farms, a power station chimney and dockyard cranes. Yet, despite that, as I walk I can still encounter birdlife, fish, snakes and swans and imagine a different river in coexistence.

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Imperfect Complexity

The Detached Artificial Eye

An Incomplete Survey

Neither Commonplace or Pure